Monstrous Races Read online

  They walked into a large, noisy room filled with chatter and expectation, and as he placed the large pot in the centre of the main table all became silent. He carefully ladled some stew onto a bread plate for the Head of the Dogheadhood, Alpha Sawyre.

  ‘I see you’re cleaner now Rufus, what a pleasant surprise. Please try not to attend prayers again with a face full of food, I’m sure you can wait until afterwards.’ She smiled at him, her sleek greyhound head tilted to one side. Her voice was soft and deep like dripping honey. He saw that her muzzle was mostly grey and her eyes were as knowing as ever, looking for his reaction. He looked down and tried to look humble.

  ‘Sorry about that, we’d had a busy day. It won’t happen again,’ he added quietly as he placed the bread in front of her.

  ‘Hmm, we’ll see. This smells good, please continue.’ They walked around the tables serving the stew to the hundred or so dog-heads sitting around the room, overhearing odd bits of conversation.

  ‘Well, I hear there’s all kinds of bad behaviour there, drinking and gambling. You’re not going until you’re older.’

  ‘But Mum, I just want to see what it’s like, I won’t join in. I’ve heard it’s safe if you go with someone you know, I was going to see if...’

  ‘No, and that’s an end to it, don’t you agree Elli?’ Gorda and her son both looked up at Elli as she stood poised with the ladle in mid-air.

  ‘Um, I think maybe...’

  ‘You should listen to your mother,’ interrupted Rufus. ‘After all, it’s not like you ever did anything like that, is it Gorda?’ He smiled showing his strong white teeth. Gorda narrowed her eyes and met his gaze.

  ‘No it’s not, and I’ll thank you to keep that wet nose of yours out of it Rufus, I was talking to Elli.’

  ‘Now dear, no need to be rude,’ came the voice of Eric who appeared to have just woken up. 'He does have a point,’ he added, turning to his son. 'I remember when I first met your mother...’

  Elli judged that this would be a good time to move on and she shoved Rufus forward, who was still trying to hear what Eric would say. They moved around quickly after that, giving more stew to the dog-heads newer to the Dogheadhood as they were often the ones who most needed feeding up. The hall was noisy with chatter and laughter and the occasional raised voice or growl. Finally, after a number of return trips to the kitchen they sat at the end of a great table and served out their food, the meaty rich aroma finally proving too much for Rufus.

  ‘I’m starving,’ he said decidedly. ‘I’m going to run out of drool if you don’t hurry up. Why can’t we eat first?’

  ‘You know why,’ she answered. 'It’s partly because we’re showing our humility, and mostly because you eat a great mouthful every time we go back inside to refill the serving pot.’

  ‘What was that?’ asked Gerald, the greying dog-head next to her. ‘Extra food? You great lump Rufus, you need to do more exercise. Look at me, fit as a flea, I don’t look a day over fifty, do I?’ Elli and Rufus looked at each other.

  ‘Would that be fifty human years or fifty dog years?’ asked Rufus, receiving a great kick on the shin from Elli.

  ‘What he meant to say was no you don’t Gerald, not a day over,' she replied archly.

  ‘Lilly here was just telling me about the news from outside. Go on Lilly tell them.’

  ‘Well,’ said Lilly, putting her food down and looking around at her audience. ‘I hear that King Wesley has marched into Westerland, and is demanding that King Harold relinquishes all of his lands immediately, or else.’ She smiled proudly, her spaniel’s head turned eagerly towards them.

  ‘Oh, not again,’ said Rufus lazily. ‘That’s six times already this year. First it’s Harold’s lands, then it’s Wesley's. Why can’t they just divide it up between them, it would be a lot easier.’

  ‘Aren’t they brothers?’ asked Elli. ‘Seems a bit foolish to keep fighting your own brother. What do their parents say about it?’

  ‘Oh, the old Queen says they’re following in a fine family tradition. She fought with her sister over and over again to control it in the first place.’

  ‘So how did they decide which sister would rule it in the end?’ asked Elli, chewing on a thick crust.

  ‘Well it tends to be a pretty easy decision when one of them is clubbed over the head,’ Gerald answered, looking up from beneath his huge white eyebrows. ‘When she woke up she was hundreds of miles away, banished from ever setting foot back in Westerland. I’m told they still write to each other at birthdays and holidays, but it’s not the same is it? Social exclusion, is there a worse fate?’

  ‘Well death is probably a bit higher up,’ said Rufus. ‘I mean, I’d imagine for a human.’ Here we go again, thought Elli, as though I represent all humans.

  ‘Elli, is that right?’ asked Lilly, turning towards her. 'Is that what humans think?’ Elli looked from one to the other and sighed.

  ‘Look, for the last time, I’ve lived with dog-heads since the age of eight. How am I supposed to know what all humans think?’ She looked at them and saw the bewildered look that she always had at this point in the conversation. Social rules for dog-heads were very straightforward; for a dog-head to be excluded from the pack was the worst kind of punishment imaginable. That’s why the Dogheadhood worked, a sanctuary that didn’t ask questions and welcomed you with open arms. And she’d been welcomed, the only human to ever ask to join them. She remembered the shock of seeing them all, of their familiar and frightening forms, and of the strange knowledge that her parents had sent her there to be with them.

  ‘I’d imagine that it is different,’ she said at last. 'I suppose death would be worse for most people.’ She shuddered as a memory rose up that she didn’t want to recall and she pushed it back and away, putting her hand to the stone around her neck without thinking. There was a very gentle warmth there now, her hand touching the rough cloth that hid the necklace underneath.

  ‘Well, the other thing I’ve heard from Patch, the dog who lives with the butcher, is that there is trouble coming from the North. Dark trouble, serious danger,’ Lilly added with a flourish.

  ‘And where exactly in the North is this?’ asked Rufus. ‘Only the North is a very big place. North of Mifyn, North of Cowyse...’

  ‘He didn’t say,’ she said sharply, bearing her upper teeth. ‘Only that men are coming and that they are looking for something. And that when they find it we’ll all be in serious danger.’ She theatrically crossed her arms over her chest, the holy sign adopted by the Dogheadhood.

  ‘Who’s leading these soldiers?’ asked Elli, pouring herself some water. ‘How far away are they from us?’

  ‘He just started to tell me when the butcher whistled for him, and he chose to go to him instead.’ She picked at a shard of mutton that was stuck in her teeth ‘He seemed to think it would be bad for everyone though, not just the humans.’

  After washing and clearing away the pots Elli and Rufus took a break and strolled around the outside of the building. The cool wind was becoming stronger, and she enjoyed the feel of it against her tingling cheeks. Rufus kept his head bowed, moaning about it.

  ‘Honestly,’ he said, ‘my head's toasty, but this habit has lots of drafts.’ He paused and kicked a stone. ‘Sorry for mentioning the whole human thing earlier, I know it must be a real pain always having to explain the same thing. We spend a lot of our time trying to make sense of the human side.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m used to it,’ she replied, shrugging. ‘It just reminded me of my parents, that’s all.’ She looked up into the greying sky and Rufus put his hand on her shoulder.

  'You don't know how they came to have the stone?' he asked quietly. She shook her head.

  'I don't think I ever asked. I didn't have time.' She remembered a small cottage and the smell of baking bread.

  Later, as they were chopping vegetables and plucking chickens in the kitchen two large dog-heads appeared and told them it was time to meet with Alpha Sawyre. ‘We’ll carr
y on here,’ said the larger of the two, moving towards the mountainous pile of carrots.

  ‘Well don’t let it burn, and no helping yourselves either,’ he added sternly, swiping a piece of pie he’d been saving and hiding it from view in the folds of his habit. They walked along the dark musty corridors and he chewed noisily, contemplating the meeting. ‘She’s a wise old thing,’ he added quietly. ‘Just tell her everything and she’ll sort it out.’ He placed his hand in hers and knocked on the heavy wooden doors.

  Alpha Sawyre called for them to enter and looked at them both, the large dog-head next to the blue-eyed girl. She saw that Elli's hair was curled and chestnut-coloured, with streams of copper running through it. And her eyes were afraid, she smelt the fear coming from her. Just underneath the more powerful smell of apple pie.

  ‘Ah Rufus,’ she said softly, ‘it’s a short walk, you hardly needed a snack.’ He smiled and took his hand from Elli’s.

  ‘We need some advice Alpha Sawyre. Quite urgently.’

  ‘Sit down,’ she said, beckoning them to the benches that were placed around the table. ‘Elli, Rufus said we needed to speak. Would you prefer to talk on your own?' Elli shook her head and sat down next to Rufus.

  ‘He knows everything anyway. I was in a fight yesterday, they wanted my basket.’ The warm light was relaxing her, and she felt the gentle heat from the stone next to her chest.

  ‘And you were with her I take it, Rufus?’ Alpha Sawyre asked, as Rufus subtly adjusted his position on the seat and avoided her gaze. ‘So where were you?’ she asked flatly.

  ‘I um, had to leave Elli for just a few minutes, I had a personal errand to attend to,’ he muttered, looking down at the floor. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Well, as we’re all here I’m sure we’d both love to know what this errand was that meant you couldn’t protect Elli. Please do share.’ She crossed her legs and gazed at him intently, her brows furrowed.

  ‘It involved a dog-head of the female persuasion,’ he replied quietly, still avoiding her gaze. ‘Is that enough?’

  ‘Oh no, please do tell us more,’ Alpha Sawyre answered brightly. ‘She can’t live close to here so how exactly did you communicate?’

  ‘Through a dog called Julius,’ he said wretchedly. ‘Through a dog that, er, might also know her husband. If you see what I mean.’

  Alpha Sawyre brushed some invisible dust off her habit and looked back up at him. ‘I see,’ she said slowly, as he almost broke into a whimper. ‘And she was the reason you left a young girl helpless, in a place filled with danger? Well, I’m so very glad you brought this to my attention Elli. Please leave us to have a little talk.’

  ‘No,’ answered Elli, transfixed by this latest development, ‘it’s not that, it’s something else. We fought but I, um, I mean they attacked me. All three of them. And I almost beat them.’

  ‘Right,’ said Alpha Sawyre. ‘I’m not quite sure what...’

  ‘I mean I did something to them. I pushed out my arms and this...thing flew from out of me and knocked them over. I did it twice. Then the biggest one got me but Rufus saved me.’

  ‘Hoorah for Rufus,’ Alpha Sawyre said quietly. ‘But how can you be sure that you didn’t touch them? In the spur of the moment, with all the excitement and fear you might have hit them or they might have tripped up themselves. It might not be anything to worry about Elli.’

  ‘There’s something else. It’s my necklace, something has happened to it.’ She took the stone out from beneath her clothes and held it up for Alpha Sawyre.

  ‘Let me see,’ she said, a glimmer of concern momentarily behind her wise brown eyes. The glass-blue and white wisps that ran over the surface were gently glowing and a hazy blue effervescent light was weaving itself around the stone. Alpha Sawyre sat quietly for a moment, entranced by the dancing swirls. For some time all that could be heard was the cackle of the fire.

  'Why do you think my parents gave me this stone Alpha Sawyre?' asked Elli, as the warm light flickered around the sparse room.

  'Elli,' she said gently, 'they wanted you to have the most precious thing in their possession. The other most precious thing.'

  'Do you think it happened because of my stone? It started glowing at about the same time.'

  Alpha Sawyre continued to look at it intently, her eyes reflecting the twinkling misty lights that surrounded it. 'I know what it is,' she said quietly, looking from Elli to Rufus. 'Am I to take it that neither of you have any idea?' They both shook their heads so she went on. 'It has many names but the most common is fyrestone, and it's very, very rare. It looks quite ordinary most of the time, but when a stone glows like this it means that another fyrestone is travelling towards it. Wars have been fought over these things; should the two stones meet it can bring great power to the one who unites them both, hence I would imagine your recent show of strength. When did it begin to glow like this?' she asked, her eyes penetrating into Elli's now.

  'A few days ago,' replied Elli, glancing at Rufus who had his head bowed. 'I thought it was an ordinary stone, just a present from my parents. So does this means that another one is travelling towards me?'

  'Yes it does, but we can't be certain that it is deliberate, or indeed if the holder of the stone means you any harm.' She sat forward on her seat and spoke more softly. 'You could of course part with it, give it to somebody else to work it out for themselves.' Alpha Sawyre looked into Elli's determined blue eyes and smiled crookedly. 'No, I thought not.'

  'Is this why I was sent here?' asked Elli, her blue eyes darkening like thunderclouds. Alpha Sawyre nodded sadly, her gaze never leaving Elli's.

  'I didn't know your parents well, but what I knew of them I liked. They asked me to care for you, they told me about this,' she said, gesturing towards Elli's necklace. 'Their great hope was that it would remain dull, never glowing and leave you in peace. It's a wondrous gift and a terrible burden they said, passed down from parent to child. It was all they had to give you Elli,' she said simply, her voice calm and pure.

  Elli sat and held the stone, feeling its gentle warmth tickling her fingers. Rufus cleared his throat next to her.

  'What if we take it somewhere, place it in the ground miles from here?' he asked.

  'That's not how it works,' answered Alpha Sawyre. 'The stone has made its connection with Elli now. The best thing we can do is to move her somewhere away,' she added, seeing Elli flinch. She shrugged, looking from one to the other. 'Perhaps a break, some time away would help to put some distance between you and the other stone. After all, we don't know who has the other one; they could be as surprised as you are.' She paused and tilted her head to one side, watching her closely. 'You've lived with us for so long now that you've gone from being a girl to a young woman, I think we forget that. Perhaps the answer to all this lies outside of the Dogheadhood. With that stone.'

  'But where will I go?' asked Elli, suddenly anxious. 'This is all I know.'

  'We'll still be here when you return,' she replied, looking over at Rufus who had his head bowed in the shadows. Alpha Sawyre placed her open hands on either side of her muzzle. 'Rufus, your opinion please,' she said. He paused and when he spoke his deep voice was softer, the sharp edges shorn away.

  'I know what you're saying Alpha Sawyre, really I do, but why now? Where's she going to go? It's a dangerous world out there, we can't just absolve ourselves of responsibility.'

  'Oh I'm suggesting no such thing,' she replied lightly as Rufus looked across at her. 'Of course, what you’ll need is somebody to accompany you whose moral compass is off-centre but whose heart is in the right place. Somebody who gets themselves out of difficult, dangerous situations all the time with an interesting combination of skilful cunning and artful luck.’

  ‘When do we leave?’ asked Rufus, slumped in his seat. ‘I know you’re talking about me.’

  'Yes indeed I am,' she said with a wry smile, looking from one to the other. 'You can make up for leaving her in a dangerous situation out there. Think of it as an adventure, you'
ve had plenty of those in your time, haven't you Rufus? And I'm sure your Father would be very pleased to see you. It's been such a long time. Do give him my kindest regards, won't you?' Rufus bowed his head, deep in thought.

  'Elli, I think the best thing you can do is sleep right now, it's been a very eventful and I'm sure quite unsettling day for you. And a quiet word with you on your own Rufus, if you don't mind,' said Alpha Sawyre, the long shadows dancing over the books behind her.

  Elli walked in a daze to the door, glancing backwards once as Alpha Sawyre and Rufus sat mirroring each other, their voices almost a whisper. She clutched the stone in her fist and felt the familiar flagstones under her flimsy leather shoes, stable and strong beneath her feet.

  Chapter Three

  Threats and self-inflicted injuries

  Some days later, after morning prayers, a loud and urgent knocking was heard at the heavy entrance gates to the Dogheadhood. The dog-heads inside had expected it; they’d heard the noisy, tumultuous group of humans as they'd travelled towards them, bickering and hollering as they walked. They peered out from the highest levels of the building, looking through tiny gaps down at them. Some carried pitchforks or scythes, others walked purposefully with rusting swords. Men, women and children were in the group, all clinging close to one another.

  At the head were a man and woman who walked without saying a word to anyone. They wore simple, rough clothes and battered shoes, and the woman carried a leather bag. Alpha Sawyre had seen a similar group when they had first settled there when she was a young female, and she remembered the fire in their eyes and the poised, tightly sprung bodies; one tiny event could unfurl all of their might and weaponry in seconds. She thought back to the sight of children hurling things at them, some holding weapons they could barely lift, screaming ‘savages.’